Powerplus or Bust, Eh?

[Shaky Jake]

My friends Ryan and Clint working on Ryan's bike In Wichita. This is how the other half of the Cannonball time was spent; every night, working on the bikes:








Patience was accumulating stickers. She got one of these each day because she covered all the miles:






Kevin

.

[Shaky Jake]

Dodge City was our "rest day." Most of us rested by working on our bikes. Dan brought out his guitar, and much beer was consumed:






This was my makeshift lathe, for turning down my valve stems:






The whole timing case came apart to check the valve timing and adjust the mag timing:






One of the high tension lead towers on the mag required repair:






That night Paul and I were up until 3 a.m. finishing up everything that needed to be done on that bike. Another new exhaust valve was lapped in. We spent literally hours de-carboning the cylinders. Another make-shift repair was made on that front exhaust port because the braze let go again. This time we used a hose clamp and that held for the rest of the Cannonball. The transmission and drive chains got adjusted, and everything got greased and oiled. We finally buttoned up the timing gear case at 3:00 a.m. on September 19. We were pretty tired. I kicked it over to no reward. None of that lovely cacophony that I was so familiar with. A couple of quick checks, and I knew that in my fatigue I had assembled the timing gears 180 degrees out of phase. Suddenly I was overwhelmed with exhaustion. I told Paul let's just load it up in the van. Tomorrow we'll haul it to the next stop, and we'll fix it there. Paul thought about it for a minute and he said wait a minute, Kevin, let's just think about this for a minute. We just put that gear case together. We know exactly what to do and how to do it. It won't take us long at all, we'll have it back together, then we can sleep. Sure enough, it only took a half an hour and she was running. It's nice to have someone to play good cop to your bad cop. I never would have made all the 2016 Cannonball miles if Paul hadn't talked me into taking that motor back apart at 3:00 a.m.




So, here she is, the wee hours of the next morning, on the starting line in Dodge City, along with everybody else:








Kevin

[Tom Lovejoy]

Fun reading Kevin, keep em coming - great stuff.

[Shaky Jake]

I had to show you this. I got a text from one of the officers of the Omaha Chapter of the AMCA the other day. This is his prototype design for the event T shirt for the Lincoln Highway National Swapmeet in Fremont, NE this month:






Kevin
Feeling honored.

[panthersteve]

Kevin
Feeling honored.

You earned it Kevin, you did a great job and we are all proud of you. Having you in the event was like knowing a jockey at a horse race, knowing one of the players in the superbowl etc. While we haven't met we were barracking for you as if we were close friends with you. Everyday I checked the updates and the first thing I did was to look down the list for #97 to see how you went the previous day.

I would be proud to wear one of those shirts, how do I get one

Cheers
Steve

[frichie68]

That's about as cool as it gets!

[BoschZEV]

his prototype design for the event T shirt

Congratulations. Recognition like that from your peers has to be immensely gratifying.

[Shaky Jake]

Yes. They're a great bunch of guys.

To get one, I think you have to attend the event. I'm trying to figure out how to get one myself, since I'm stuck working out of town. I did arrange for the bike to be there though.




Kevin

.

[Shaky Jake]

On the 21st the route went through Four Corners:








The next morning, getting ready to leave from Page, AZ.







I made some friends at a gas stop later that day:










This is the last free view of the Grand Canyon before you pay to enter the park:






It started raining just before I entered the Grand Canyon Park. It developed into a deluge as I rode through to park:






I could have used some of that rain later in the day when my exhaust pipe caught my rain pants and my jeans on fire:








Kevin

.

[Shaky Jake]

Patience getting her kicks on Route 66:








A few people came out to see us at Lake Havasu, including my old friend Chuck and his wife:













Kevin

.

[Shaky Jake]

This is what I wrote on my Facebook page on September 24:

Patience didn't care for this mornings ride through the desert. She's worn and tired and struggling on every uphill mile. For me, this was the most beautiful leg of the journey. The air was crystal clear and still. The sky was blue like a husky's eyes. The texture and stark clarity of the mountains in the distance was striking. The patterns formed by the sage and mesquite as it spread into the distance were almost geometric. Someday I'll bring a camper out here and stay a while, just so I can look at it every day. I tried to take a picture, but you just can't photograph a mountain.






Once again, DAN provided the entertainment in the hotel parking lot.






Kevin

.

[Shaky Jake]

On the 25th we had lunch in Temecula, then it was on to Carlsbad where Patience got her final sticker:












Some of Paul's old friends that live in the area, so they came with us to the Banquet that night:








Joe Walano's T shirt summed it up. Now we know...






Kevin

.

[ihrescue]

Thanks Kevin for documenting your build including acquiring the motorcycle and the trip to BC to pick it up all the way through your Cannonball run. I am a hopeless "build" fan and even resort to following off grid cabin builds and garage builds on other forums. Your photos gives somewhat of a sense of the difficulty of the runs. Keep up the good work.

Mike Love
AMCA 19097

[McLean Motors]

Shawn,
Energy One Performance Clutches can re-line your clutch plates for the powerplus three speed clutch. You have to send them your plates with the old lining removed, and they bond modern material to them, Kevlar I think. It was about $90 a set if I remember correctly. Their number is 562-404-5200, I think the guys name was Kent.

I have been wanting to build a single speed powerplus twin, so if you have any interest in parting with you pedal parts, please messsage me. I would pay cash or consider parts trades. Just let me know.




Kevin


.

Hi Kevin.
Sorry for the delayed response. This Friday my clutch will come back from Energy One. Yes, Kent is the guy's name and he seems like a true enthusiast.
If you're still interested in the single speed cluch, let me know and we can take it offline.
Congratulations on completion of the Cannonball. Hell, congratulations on merely attempting.
All the best,
Shawn

[Shaky Jake]

Hi Kevin.
Sorry for the delayed response. This Friday my clutch will come back from Energy One. Yes, Kent is the guy's name and he seems like a true enthusiast.
If you're still interested in the single speed cluch, let me know and we can take it offline.
Congratulations on completion of the Cannonball. Hell, congratulations on merely attempting.
All the best,
Shawn

I sent you a PM Shawn.

Kevin